Former world champion Nico Rosberg has weighed in on ex-teammate Lewis Hamilton’s disaster race at Monaco this past weekend.
Hamilton had a nightmare at Monaco, having a bad qualification and an even worse race. The seven-time champion could only manage a paltry P7, which means he now sits behind WDC leader Max Verstappen.
Rosberg gave his opinion on Hamilton’s weekend, saying he had no confidence in the car.
“Lewis was lacking confidence from the very beginning, you could see that,” he said. “In the third practice, the rear of the car was not consistent, the car was not holding the track well and it could not catch the rhythm in the qualifying rounds. As a result, he finished seventh in the qualifying rounds.”
It is well-known that the Monaco GP features very less overtakes, because the circuit is built that way. The only way one can overtake reliably there is by undercutting. Hamilton and his team tried to do it, but it backfired spectacularly.
With the Brit stuck behind Pierre Gasly, Mercedes took a gamble and called Hamilton into the pits earlier than expected. But unfortunately for them, the pit stop took a while, and Hamilton came out to see Gasly still ahead of him.
Rosberg highlighted why the surprise strategy blew up in Mercedes’ face.
“Mercedes took a risk by trying to make an early pit stop, but in doing so they did not take into account how difficult it was to heat the hard tire. As a result, Lewis lost a lot of time against his rivals,” he explained.
All-round disaster
But Hamilton wasn’t the only one who had a terrible weekend. The other Mercedes driver, Valtteri Bottas, had to retire from the race because of a jammed wheel nut. As a result, the three-pointed star had only seven points to show after the weekend at Monaco.
F1 heads to Azerbaijan next. Mercedes will need to bounce back to be in the running for titles. Red Bull is piling on the pressure, and all eyes will be on Merc’s response in Baku.
Read more: “Game’s over for Mercedes”: Nico Rosberg concedes Mercedes will fail to be competitive in Monaco